So the white sedan is being stored in the driveway of a local w114 enthusiast who has four w114 coupes, three very nice in various states of disassemble with no fenders on in his garages, and a fourth waiting in the wings for a restoration. I drove the white sedan to his house, and he have me a ride home where we took a look at my coupes.

He really thinks the coupes should be saved just because coupes go for more money, and both bodies are more solid than the sedan.

He made me a low offer on the sedan, but will surely be checking it over more in his driveway to determine if he is buying it from me, or if we are going to end up parting it out together.

He mentioned that cleaning out the fuel tanks and fuel lines is going to be harder than I might expect, explaining how the metal fuel lines need to be taken off, and have the varnish cooked out of them, and the tanks will need to full-go-over. Sounds like I might need the fuel tank from the sedan, eh?

Apparently Sam the w114 enthusiast really wanted that white sedan. He was pretty insistent on coming over yesterday and buying the title and second key from me. So my only "roadworthy" w114 is gone, but hopefully I've got myself a good local w114 enthusiast companion.

There were some parts from that sedan that would have been helpful in my projects:
- front hood star
- maybe the rear end sheet metal to save the blue coupe
- maybe the fuel tank and fuel lines
- the perfect Becker radio
- maybe the carbs for rebuilding and still having one sitting in the car(s).

Anyway, he is local and I figure the sedan is due to ultimately be parted out, but I bet you Sam is going to take much better care of that sedan than I would. I bet he turns it into a real driver.

Edit:
And we looked over the blue coupe and I convinced him that it's a parts car, even though the interior is so nice, and it probably would run down the road really nicely with all the "recently" replaced parts on it.

I am willing to part with the blue coupe that needs the body work on the rear end (and other rusty places). Or part it out to help save others. The only shame to me seems to be that it appears "early" to me:
- vin: 11402312000169
- chrome shifter gate with MB ball shifter.
- pretty nice interior
- lots of relatively new parts on it.

SE or SEL? The w108 is a nice car if well sorted. Many consider it as better looking with a lot more wood and leather but not as sporty as a W114.

It's a black rip-free MB tex interior car that has some minor surface rust, and a few small areas of rot underneath I could probably fix, plus a smashed rear bumper I've already priced out. So it would be an immediate paint job car. 6-cylinder injected SE. Chrome looks great overall. Seriously, just the power windows and lack of leather are the only reasons to not try to restore it to high quality. It does have AC. I didn't even realize you could get an S class MB without AC.

Well. Decisions have been made. The sedan went off to a local w114 enthusiast, and he seems to be making it a real road vehicle.

Next project step is clearing some space in the garage for the black coupe, so I can drop the fuel tank, clean the fuel lines and maybe put the car on the road for a bit.

Then once the black car is on the road, the plan is to make the blue car drivable by probably doing the same as the black car to it. But instead of saving it, the plan is to also send it to the local w114 Enthusaist for a part out. Maybe I will hold onto it until I'm sure I don't need any parts from it (like after I get my spare windshield installed because I need to make sure it's not broken on the way in).

Parts of the blue interior of the blue coupe may end up in the sedan after all.

Finally coming around to these projects. Long time coming!!

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Edit: To respond to the above few posts where I was considering getting out of the w114s altogether:

It's a black rip-free MB tex interior car that has some minor surface rust, and a few small areas of rot underneath I could probably fix, plus a smashed rear bumper I've already priced out. So it would be an immediate paint job car. 6-cylinder injected SE. Chrome looks great overall. Seriously, just the power windows and lack of leather are the only reasons to not try to restore it to high quality. It does have AC. I didn't even realize you could get an S class MB without AC.

I think I got lucky and the w108 280se sold before I got a chance to go back and drive it. Then it showed up at the shop in Bethlehem, PA where my friend Ramon (who parts old benzes for a living) works. He immediately recognized it by it's banged up rear bumper. Apparently the injected m130 engine is being taken out of the 280se and put into a coupe (that is not in as nice of shape). It sounds like it was a very cheap engine for the coupe knowing the seller offered me the w108 for only $1250.

As great of a deal it probably would have been, I must focus on my mission to "thin the heard". My goal is to get down to 3 MB as quickly as possible: the black w114, the 280slc stick, and my convertible 5.0 SLC. Furthermore, I've recently come to the realization that other than the velour interior of my 280slc, it really might not be a bad platform to make my dream car: a stick shift, 5-seat convertible. I would just need to replicate the conversion done to my 450slc 5.0 custom convertible. It would be the most ideal driver with the six cylinder. But that's a totally separate topic.

I can smell it. It won't be long before my black 250c is in the garage. Last night was a heavy clean-out and there's nothing major stopping me from getting the 250c in the garage at this point, just empty boxes and some small parts. It feels like my life is almost getting under control, just in time for the winter.